Happy Baking

I made zucchini bread today. I cracked the eggs in the bowl and then poured in the oil. When I looked down this is what I saw . . .

Made me smile!

Saturday Basketball

Alaina is playing basketball for the first time this year. She has really enjoyed learning the game and has improved so much. She played two games today and it was so fun to watch her go after the ball more than she ever has before. She even made 2 points! There she goes, dribbling the ball down the court.

You can tell she loves it by the smile on her face!

Happy Birthday Lila!

Lila is seven. Already.

Seven seems way too old for Lila to be. Wouldn't you agree?

We skipped school on Lila's birthday to go to Seaside.

The kids were excited about that.

The weather was perfect. It was just like spring. So excited about that!

We played in the sand. Bowen was excited about that.

It was the first time in his young life that he was allowed to stick his fingers in the sand. Quite exhilarating.

He toddled all around that sand until he was all tired out.

Then we took Lila home for some cake and ice cream. It was a fun day.

Happy Birthday, sweet Lila! We love you!!

Mashed Potatoes

Someone had a little too much fun eating his mashed potatoes.

Yay for the 100th Day!!

The kids celebrated the 100th day of school in the middle of February.

Rylan and Bowen were excited and they don't even go to school yet!

Climbing the Falls

After our night in Portland with friends, we drove out to Multnomah Falls to enjoy the continued nice weather.

We hiked all the way to the top of the falls. We stopped several times to catch our breath on the way up . . .

and warned the kids several times not to get too close to the edge.

Our cute hiking buddies, Owen and Riley. . . they were little troopers!

I was really impressed with how well all the kids did hiking over a mile up the trail. There were alot of switchbacks!

Bowen was excited to get back down to the bottom.

He got to take a nap on the way down so he really had nothing to complain about.

And the final shot is of the triumphant family of hikers after their long journey. . .

Ready to pile in the car and head home!

Portland with Some Friends

Our friends, the Henricksons came for a visit and we spent some time with them in Portland.

We went to the Oregon Zoo on Monday afternoon. The weather forecast had called for rain, but not a drop fell from the sky so we thought we should take advantage of that and do something outside.

The lions were rather hungry and Alaina almost became their meal.

The kids all love to be together, but Rylan and Owen have a special friendship.

We got a glimpse of what kind of a driver Emily will turn out to be . . .

and saw how our kids would choose to ride if there were no seat belt laws.

Somehow we missed the crocodiles, which was the one animal the kids specifically asked to see.

We made the trip even more of an adventure by getting to and from the zoo by riding the MAX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAX_Light_Rail). Here we are waiting to get on after the zoo.

We made it safely back to the car and fed all our wild animals and tucked them in bed at the hotel. It was a fun day in Portland with some friends.